Final Blog Post for my Game Plan

I feel my game plan will be affective for myself and my students. I am excited for my students to have the ability to work on real-world problems in conjunction with real-world engineers; what a great opportunity. Integrating Technology Across the Content Area has provided me with new tools and ideas to incorporate into my lesson plans. These ideas include Problem-Based Learning (PBL), online collaboration, and digital storytelling. With these ideas in mind students will be introduced to NETS-S standards where they will have the ability to master these standards through PBL, online collaboration, and digital storytelling. I feel my plan will be very affective and I will remain to focus on it with no immediate changes.

Using my GAME Plan Process with Students

A quick recap: My game plan will allow me to stay current with National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S). The two NETS•S standards that I would like to focus on are Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.

The way that I will use my game plan with my students is I will incorporate these standards into my lessons. I am fortunate enough to have real-world engineers be part of a committee I have for my engineering academy. I will use these engineers as references so I can have my students participate and solve real-world problems. Also, the students will have the ability to use these real-world engineers as mentors for any questions or concerns they may have on a given project or activity. I feel if I continue to have my students use cutting edge technology and expand my horizon on different technology and techniques that my students will continue to stay creative and eager to learn.

On the other side of the coin, I have to be willing to engage in professional growth. By me receiving training every summer and staying up-to-date with my curriculum I will be able to teach my students the most current technologies and skills being used in industry. Also, the real-world engineers will allow me to achieve this goal. I know that I cannot keep using my curriculum year after year because it “works”. I need to stay up-to-date so my students are well prepared for college and the real-world. One exciting attribute that I bring to the table is I teach at a number of Universities during the summer. This allows me to not only teach my students these new and exciting concepts, but other teachers that are becoming a part of the engineering curriculum.

Revising My GAME Plan

So far i have learned that VoiceThreads will allow users to upload a large file. I ran a test the other day and was able to upload a large image without any problems. I still need to have a "dry-run" before I expect my students to use VoiceThreads effectively. I have received feedback from other teachers that they performed a "dry-run" with their students and the students loved it. This is something that I am considering, plus, this will give students an idea of what the software is and what it can do.

So far I have learned that having a network community to interact with helps a great deal. Any questions or concerns I may have, I have the ability to ask people online and receive a response quickly. Thank you to the inventor of computers and online networking! I feel my approaches I have taking to meet my game plan have worked. I do not believe that I would change anything that I have done. The NETS-T standards are something that I incorporate into my engineering curriculum daily.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

Not much has changed in my ability to reach my game plan goal. One thing that I did learn, thanks to Amy, is VoiceThreads did not crash on her at all while using them. I plan on still performing a dry run with another teacher just to double check this and to make sure that VoiceThreads is the best form of communication between students. When students (and real world engineers) communicate with each other they are posting sketches, detailed drawings, and 3D models of their product for each other to review and comment on. Another concern that has risen for me is if VoiceThreads have a max size file that can be uploaded to their site. I know that the 3D models that students make can be very large in size.

My wife and I have introduced our first baby boy to the world and when I return to school, in full stride, I will be setting up a VoiceThread with another teacher to check these concerns I have.

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

So far things are looking good for my game plan. The only thing I need to do is brush-up on my VoiceThread skills. I feel for VoiceThreads to work for my engineering class I will need to complete a "dry run" with another teacher. I feel if we stay in contact on a daily basis for a couple weeks I will be able to work out all the kinks. My big concern will be if the VoiceThread site ever crashes and if so, how often.

I stay in contact with fellow engineering teachers and real-world engineers on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I have a hand-full of real-world engineers that are on a committee that I have. It is nice to know that students have a valid resource to rely on if questions should arise. I am a master teacher for the curriculum I teach which means I need to be up-to-date with curriculum revisions and new software being adding. During the summers I teach the engineering curriculum to entry level teachers. I teach at different universities which entails me to be a mentor throughout the year for the new teachers. This allows me to see what is working for these teachers and what I can learn from them.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

In order for me to carry out my game plan I need to prepare myself with resources. The resources that will help me with my game plan include computers, various software’s, Project Lead the Way (PLTW) colleagues, real-world engineers, and my school website. Computers are used in my classroom on a daily basis. Students use computers to complete everything from online research to cutting-edge software. Every year I get together with my PLTW colleagues to revise or add information to the curriculum. This allows us to stay up-to-date with industry and engineering colleges. Also, I have the ability throughout the year to post and reply to post on a forum that PLTW teachers have access to. The real-world engineers will help me stay up-to-date with real-world problems along with adding support for students who may have questions or concerns on their projects throughout the year. I post information, lectures, notes, links, and have discussions on my school website with students enrolled in my classes. Additional information that I will need to acquire is the best and proper way to effectively use VoiceThreads. VoiceThreads will play a key role in students being able to virtually work with other students on a project.

I have been fortunate enough to have every one of these steps completed, with the exception of VoiceThreads, to carry out my game plan. I have enough computers in my lab for every student, up-to-date software installed on each computer, ability to communicate with my colleagues, access to real-world engineers, and my school website is completed. I am in the process of furthering my education on the use of VoiceThreads. VoiceThreads will come into play around the middle of the third nine weeks of school.

Developing Your Personal GAME Plan

As a technology education major and an engineering teacher, I perform all five of the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S) on a daily basis. In order for me to stay current with these standards I need to create a game plan. In reference to the game plan; Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) state, “The GAME plan enables you to customize your approach to learning tasks, to develop relevant skills that are important to you, and prepares you for lifelong relationships” (p. 4). The two NETS•S standards that I would like to focus on are Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity states, teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. My goal to strengthening my proficiency in this standard is to engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. The actions I will take to meet these goals will include me gathering information from real-world engineers to get up to date real-world problems for the students to solve, collaborating with other engineering teachers and the use of VoiceThreads during the virtual design project. I will monitor my actions throughout the year. If I am not receiving enough information I will search out new means of resources to reach my goals. I will evaluate my game plan by communicating with the students. I will receive their feedback on the real-world activities and projects we complete throughout the year.

Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership states, Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. My goal to strengthening my proficiency in this standard is to remain up to date in the engineering curriculum. I receive training each year to stay up to date with the engineering curriculums that I am trained in. This allows me to ask any questions I may have and learn new cutting edge technology to incorporate in the classroom. I will monitor my actions throughout the year. I have the ability to participate in a forum online where I can ask questions and receive feedback from other engineering teachers. I will evaluate my game plan by seeing what did and did not work for my teaching of the curriculum. I will reflect on the different strategies I used and make improvements where needed.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

Through the past eight weeks I have broadened my insight on information literacy skills and learned how to teach these skills to students through inquiry-based learning. Students need to hone-in on their internet skills. This does not mean faster ways to find their favorite internet games or selecting three random websites to use as references but, the proper way for searching, evaluating, and synthesizing the information from the internet.

As Beth Phillips (2007) emphasizes, students need to use the ABC’s approach when looking at a web site. The ABC’s of a web site have students look for important information to validate the web site such as the authors name, the basis and content of the site, dates the information was published, and if there is an editor. These ABC’s will help students validate the information and see if the information is safe to use. I feel it is very important for students to validate their information so they understand that they are not re-writing something that may not be valid.

One of my favorite assignments we completed was a think out loud evaluation on a website. I used a camcorder to record my think out loud evaluation where I went through and used the ABC’s approach to validate the site. Along with the ABC’s approach, David Warlick (2007) stresses to look at the URL and see where the web site is coming from. If a site has a .gov, .org, or .edu typically the site will have valid information. Dot-Com sites are different being they are commercial web sites.

I feel that students need to understand the proper way for searching, evaluating, and synthesizing the information from the internet. Students need to ask questions throughout any activity they work on. I agree with Eagleton and Dobler (2007) statement which is, “The most compelling inquiry questions are student-generated” (p. 82). They need to be able to evaluate and respect the digital information they find. First they need to validate the information then they need to give proper credit to the owner(s). Finally, they need to understand that synthesizing is gathering information on a topic and then transforming that information into answers through a process of deduction.

References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). Information Literacy: Evaluating Information (DVD). New Literacies. Baltimore, MD: Author
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). A Teacher's Perspective: Evaluating Information Online (DVD). New Literacies. Baltimore, MD: Author
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Personal Theory of Learning

I feel that students learn best when they have ideas or goals set for the day and for the end of a unit. I see my students succeed when I incorporate technology into the lecture along with not allowing students to have down-time. My curriculum is broking up into 4 units with multiple lessons, activities, and a major project for each unit. When I start a new unit with the students we go over what the unit is about and what the outcome should be. Also, I write daily objectives on the board, so the students can see what the goals are going to be for that day.

I use a lot of technology in the classroom, but there is always room to grow as technology will continue to improve. My goal is to stay up to date with current technology and to incorporate new technology into my curriculum. The first piece of technology I plan to use in the future is a VoiceThread. Students will have the ability to use a VoiceThread when they work on their virtual design challenge with other students from around the States. The other piece of technology I would like to incorporate into my curriculum is online testing for students. Online testing would allow the students to take exams and have their scores generated for them right away. This would make my life easier being the computer will do the grading which would allow me to spend more time helping students or preparing lesson plans.

Reference
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Can we go on a virtual field trip?

There are three video clips here.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

This week I explored how social learning theories provide students with the ability to be activily engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with each other. I have my students spend about half their time through the school year working collabrativly and the other half working indivdually. I feel students have a sence of control when they work collabrativly because they are in-charge of their learning. They keep each other going while understanding that I am their to act as a guide if things start to get out of hand or they have a question that no one in the group can answer.

When students interact with each other, a piece of technology such as a computer, or with the teacher, I feel they are able to retain more information. When they help each other it allows the student to feel good about themselves and it shows the teacher that they have retained the information. Also, this shows the teacher that not only does the student understand, but they are able to teach the information to others in the class and the student has gone above inert knowledge. Using a piece of technology such as the computer, Skype, or a VoiceThread allows the students to not only interact with their peers in the classroom, but with other people across the globe.

References:

Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Connectivism as a Learning Theory [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author

Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Social Learning Theories[DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Constructivism in Practice

This week I learned about constructivism and constructionism theories used in the classroom. Constructivism states that each individual activiely constructs his/her own meaning. Constructionism states that people learn best when they build on external artifacts or something they can share with others. My classroom theories are based on contsrtuctionism. My students use technology everyday to produce products on the computer and 3D models of their products, power point presentations, and tri-fold displays.

A concept that teachers could incorporate into their classroom is the ability to allow their ability to allow students to generate and test hypotheses. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) state "when students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental processes" (p 202). I feel that constructionism and generating and testing hypotheses go hand and hand. When students generate and test hypotheses they are in control of what they want to learn. This allows students to stay in equilibration.

A great activity that I use in my classroom is I have my students reverse engineer a product to see how the product functions and how they can improve it to make it better or easier to use. This allows the students to be engaged in problem solving, invention examine, experimental inquiry, and decision making. For the most part, the students have full control over all these aspects in their reverse engineering project with some guidance from myself.

Reference:

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M. & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cognitivism in Practice

Cognitive learning theories allows a student to make a connection with what he or she is reading with a visual artifact. Wheather the artifact is a painting, an image, or a video the students have the ability to make a connection with an image and the text. Cognitive learing theories could allow a student to process and retain information for a longer period of time. In the video clip “Spotlight on Technology: Virtual Field Trips” Dr. Orey discusses how using virtual field trips in the classroom can create an enriched environment for students.

Using the technology of virtual field trips correlates with cognitive learning theories because it allows the students to put visualizations to text. This can help a student retain information and make it eaiser for a student to recall on such information at a later time. Giving a student the opportunity to make connections with what he or she is learning, such as virtual field trips, makes processing and recalling information easier for the student.

Does anyone have insight on cognitive learning theories? Do you use this method in your classroom and if so; how?

References:

Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Spotlight on Technology: Virtual Field Trips [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author

Behaviorism in Practice

When a teacher uses a behaviorist teaching method they have positive rewards for right answers and use reinforsement for wrong ones. A behaviorist tends to use technology to reinforse what is being learned. In the book Using technology with classroom instruction that works by Howard Pitler, Elizabeth R. Hubbell, Matt Kuhn, and Kim Malenoski they talk about how using technology can keep track of a students' effort and how using technology for homework and practice provides the student with a better understanding of what he or she is doing and learning.

These strategies correlate with the behaviorist method because it allows the students to use technology to reinforse what they are learning. I feel that technology can be a powerful tool and students should use it as much as possible. Students now days are brought up in a technological era and that is what they are comfortable using. Using technology as a guide (or a helping hand) will allow the students to learn what is being taught while receiving reinforsement throughout the activity or project.

For me being a high school engineering teacher I, along with the students, have technology surronding us. I use technology such as a computer and a projector to demondtrate to the students then they turn around and use a computer, software, and sometimes tutorials to complete an assignment.

Reference:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Intergrating technology reflection

For me being a technology educator I use technology on a regular basis. Technology is incorporated into my class room for my students to learn and hopfully enjoy. One activity I enjoyed from my masters class; Understanding the Impact of Technology and Education is the wikis we had to build as a team. I have never worked with wikis before and to learn what, why, and how they are used was worth while. We worked in groups of 10-15 students and we had to build our own wiki page with everyone contributing to a page within the wiki. The cool thing about the activity is we used technology throughout this process by means of communicating with one another; noit to mention we are from all parts of the world.

My knowledge for technology is always expanding. For the engineering curiculum I teach I am getting trained yearly to stay current with colleges and industry. I continue to use cutting edge technology which allows me to teach this technology to my students.

Since I am a technology teacher a long term goal that I set for myself on a yearly basis is to stay current with the curriculum and technology being used by todays engineering industries and colleges. It is my goal to make sure that the students that do continue on to colloge or industry and a good grasp for what is being applied in todays world as far as technology goes.

My PodCast

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

I recently visited a blog titled Partnership for 21st Century Skills where there mission is to help schools collaborate with business, community, and government to get 21st Century Skills into the classroom. The 21st Centruy Skills include:

Information and communication skills (information and media literacy skills; communication skills)
Thinking and problem-solving (critical thinking and systems thinking; problem identification, formulation and solution; creativity and intellectual curiosity)
Interpersonal and self-direction skills (interpersonal and collaborative skills; self-direction; accountability and adaptability; social responsibility)
Global awareness
Financial, economic and business literacy, and developing entrepreneurial skills to enhance workplace productivity and career options
Civic literacy

The problem that these people are seeing is that students are not prepared for buisness standards, and even college, when they leave high school. I was surprised to see that there are so many buisness involved with 21st Centruy Skills. Some of the buisnesses involved include Pearson, Intel Corporation, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Apple, Dell, and LEGO Group to name a few. What helps 21st Centruy Skills market themselves is to have name brand buisnesses get involved and support them.

The idea behind 21st Centruy Skills is great. An issue that I see is some of the skills they accept schools to perform are unable to due to the lack of teachnology. For example, one of the skills frame work is Media Literacy. They expect students and teachers to understand both how and why media messages are constructed, examine how individuals interpret messages differently, and apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of media. Than it is expected that the students understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools, characteristics and conventions. I use to teach video technology and there are teachers in my school that expect students to create videos for an assignmnet. I would have a hand full of students come to me each year to eighther help them with creating a video, transfer the video to a computer from the camera, and/or create a DVD for them when they were finished. Teachers have to understand that not all students have access to a camera and/or the proper software to produce a video. What the teachers are expecting the students to do is great but they have to be very careful with what they are asking. Maybe they can team groups together so every group has atleast one person with access to a camera and one person with access to video software (and not the video technology equipment.

Here is a link to 21st Century Skills:
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org

Using blogs in the classroom

Though I am familiar with what blogs are, I have never set one up myself. Since I have started my own blog site I have noticed how helpful a blog can be. Posting a blog allows me to ask a question and receive a number of answers from a number of different people from around the world. What a powerful tool to have at our disposal!

I have been thinking how a blog would work in my classroom. I feel that the students could benefit from using a blog just as long as they do not abuse the privilege of it. I teach high school engineering and my students could benefit from a blog by posting questions they have, in regards to a project or activity, and receive answers from real-world engineers. Also they could use a blog to post questions about what to expect in college, or what is expected when they get into the real-world, or request information on a certain engineering pathway they may be interested in. I feel that the students would most benefit from a blog in this manner. I am not sure how else a blog would help?

Is there anyone that is a teacher that uses blogs in their classroom, or is there an engineer that has some ideas to how a blog could help a student in a high school environment?

NetOp

NetOp is great software to use in the classroom. Netop allows the teacher to monitor students working on computers from the teacher's computer. I am able to block certain, if not all, internet sites, freeze the computer screens while I lecture, and take control of the computers so the students can watch their screen while I demonstrate something to them.

Does anyone use NetOp or similar software?